creative&process
c&p #17: The importance of self-promotion
Self-promotion of any kind is always a somewhat tricky and delicate topic to navigate. That's because there is not only so much baggage that comes with self-promotion, but there are also so many different kinds of baggage that come from different perspec...
c&p #16: Creativity in the cracks
Creativity is like fitness. Maybe you've heard the analogy that creativity is similar to a muscle, where we stress and break down the tissue, feed it with the right nutrients, and hopefully build it into a bigger, better, more badass version of it in the ...
c&p #15: The lead domino
To-do lists are great, but often, they can feel like busy work. Why are you doing those tasks? What are those tasks moving you towards? Is the method by which you're doing them efficient enough? Without solid direction, we can sometimes trick ourselves ...
c&p #14: AI wins a photo competition and the future of photography
Well, it finally happened. A few days ago, the prestigious Sony World Photography Awards was held, and Boris Eldgasen, a German photo media artist, won the award in the single category of "Creative". Normally, this would be pretty normal news. However, he ...
c&p #13: The cost of context switching
Think about a recurring multi-stage or complex task you have to do as a creative. Perhaps the craft itself; adventuring to take photos, filming a YouTube video, sitting down to write, readying yourself for a long session at the Wacom. Perhaps it's not ab...
c&p #12: A reminder to come up for air
Every so often, I get into this weird state I often have trouble labelling. It feels like being depressed, but only in the clinical sense of losing interest in everything, rather than losing interest in life or being sad. It's this feeling of not having t...
c&p #11: Creative constraints are your best friend
In writing, there's one thing above all else that stops us dead in our tracks. The dreaded blank page. Or even worse, that little line cursor thing constantly blinking, taunting you to type on it, regardless of whether you feel inspired to type or not. Th...
c&p #10: Artists without a Social media presence, listen up.
If you create things as a business or for a living, you must use social media in today's age. Now, before we get too deep into this, yes, there are a great many artists who make a fine living without social media. Still, I also know that these people are i...
c&p #9: Will AI replace your art? Maybe.
As a self-declared "technologist" or someone who is always standing at the forefront of many different kinds of technology, I'll admit that I've been late to the game when it comes to talking about AI publicly. That's not because I don't think AI is intere...
c&p #8: The many sides of us
Who are you as a creator? As a brother? As a sister? As a friend? As a co-worker? We can be so many different things to so many different people at so many different times. There's the version of you at work, perhaps bold, proper, well-spoken and even bet...
c&p #7: Emotional space and killing babies
I had an interesting interaction with a new friend on our cruise towards Antarctica last week. We had been shooting for a few days, enjoying our time in the scenic Antarctic landscape with penguins, whales, and glaciers galore. We got some great shots. Dur...
c&p #6: Empathy is a cheat code to progressing your art
I don't condone the use of drugs, but also, you're a grown-ass adult (probably), and you do what you like. I also can't be too critical of people who use them because I've been there too. Drugs are an interesting place to start this issue because they can ...
c&p #5: The BEST artists know how to make money (and thrive)
Money is hard to talk about. Not only in general life, but significantly more so in the context of being an artist or being a creative. There's a lot of social shame and anxiety that comes with it; how much of it we make, how little of it we make, how...
c&p #4: The single best thing you can do as a creative is to be a hairbrush
When I was 12 years old, I had my first real taste of Adobe Photoshop. At the time, Photoshop was already a decade old, even way back in 2002. I don't remember how I ended up stumbling on the program itself, let alone how I managed to download it before I ...
c&p #3: All successful creatives do this. You should too.
When you finish your creative journey, where will you arrive? What does your life look like at the end of that journey? How will you feel when you get there? If your creative pursuit is a hobby or something you're doing for fun, then perhaps you don't nee...
c&p #2: The discipline-agnostic creative
Over 15 years ago, when I first started formally being a person who makes things, there was no such thing as a "content creator". The use of the word "creator" was never something you identified with, nor was it a career you could go into. The term "conten...
c&p #1: Who is it for?
Who is it for? On the surface, that’s a perfectly innocent, seemingly innocuous question. A simple line with a simple answer. But dig a little deeper and it turns out this simple question is the gateway standing between you and a successful exchange. “Who i...